Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

With reference to its observation, the Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ and employers’ organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom. The Committee recalls that, in its previous comment, it referred to section 159 of the Labour Code, which provides that members responsible for the management and administration of a trade union must be nationals of Burkina Faso or of a State with which establishment agreements have been concluded requiring reciprocity of trade union rights. The Committee reminded the Government that provisions on nationality which are too strict could deprive some workers of the right to elect their representatives, for example migrant workers in sectors in which they account for a significant share of the workforce. National legislation should accordingly allow foreign workers to take up trade union office, at least after a reasonable period of residence in the host country (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 118). The Committee requested the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to allow foreign workers to take up trade union office. In its latest report, the Government indicates that the re-reading of the Labour Code is under way and has resulted in draft legislation to issue a new Labour Code, taking into account the comments of the Committee. Thus, the new relevant provision will no longer refer to nationality as an impediment to the designation by workers or their representatives.

The Committee takes notes with interest of the information provided by the Government. It requests the Government to transmit a copy of the new provision concerning the designation of members responsible for the management and administration of a trade union and to keep it informed of the adoption of the new Labour Code.